Freckle Juice

“Andrew Marcus wanted freckles.” 

At the story’s beginning, Blume reveals the main character and his desires in the first sentence. Andrew, a second-grader, isn’t happy with his appearance and would do anything to look different. He compares himself to his classmate, Nicky Lane, who is covered in freckles. Andrew doesn’t have any freckles, and he wishes he could look like Nicky. He is convinced that his life would be better if he had freckles, too.

“Andrew stood up in a hurry. His reading group giggled. Especially Sharon. He couldn’t stand that Sharon. She thought she knew everything.”

Andrew is so distracted counting Nicky’s freckles that he forgets to move into his reading group, which also includes Sharon, the antagonist of the story. This quote establishes that Andrew doesn’t like Sharon and that Sharon thinks she knows it all. His dislike will only increase in the story after Sharon, pretending to have a recipe for freckle juice, connives him out of five weeks’ allowance.

“‘I was wondering about your freckles,’ Andrew said.

‘Oh yeah? What about them?’

Andrew felt pretty stupid. ‘Well, how did you get them?’”

Andrew may be genuinely curious, but he’s also rude. Drawing attention to Nicky’s freckles—even though he doesn’t know that Nicky hates his freckles—is impolite, even if unintentionally so. Here Blume creates a true-to-life childhood moment. Children are often uncensored, and they stare, point, and ask questions about physical attributes that differ from their own.